Category: Query Letters

Revision update: On chapter 21 of 30. I had a productive weekend, and I hope to continue and be done in a few days. This will definitely be my last revision before I submit, but the question of when to submit a manuscript, when to know it’s done, always leaves me a bit nervous. I… Read more

Revision update: Got three chapters done today. On chapter 26 of 30. My goal was to finish by tomorrow and I don’t think that will happen. Sigh. But I’ll finish it next week. This is my fifth and final post from the awesome Houston SCBWI conference. If you missed my earlier reports, Simon & Schuster… Read more

Revision update: On chapter 16 of 30. Still on track for end of February finish. In my second report from the Houston SCBWI conference, Scholastic editor Lisa Ann Sandell talks about making your query letter package stand out. Lisa is also a writer, with four books published. If you missed my first report from the… Read more

Revision update: Working on a change to chapter 2 after my 10-page critique at the Houston SCBWI conference, then back to chapter 12. Still on track to be finished by the end of the month. I’m holding off my coverage of the Houston SCBWI conference til tomorrow because I was doing some blog surfing yesterday… Read more

Day four in my reports from the Austin SCBWI conference, and today I’m featuring Curtis Brown literary agent Nathan Bransford. But first a recap of days one through three in case you missed them: agent Mark McVeigh on publishing, agent Andrea Cascardi on getting and working with an agent, editor Cheryl Klein on writing a… Read more

Manuscript update: Still perfecting my query letter and synopsis. I’m attending the Austin SCBWI conference on Saturday — so excited — and hope to have a fantastic, shiny, brilliant query letter and synopsis ready to start sending out to the conference speakers soon after. Yesterday, I wrote about why it’s important to write the perfect… Read more

Manuscript update: I miss it! I miss working on my story. But I got another book idea yesterday, so that’s exciting. I’m trying to refrain from running off into another book just yet, though, as I’ve still got the query letter and synopsis for my current book to perfect. Please note in the sentence above… Read more

Revision update: Another two chapters revised in the last two days, but I’m starting to doubt that I’ll finish by the end of the week. Maybe end of next week? For unpublished writers, facing the slush pile can seem daunting. We hear all these horror stories about manuscripts getting buried in six-foot piles of paper,… Read more

Revision update: I’ve done entering all my corrections for the crucial first eight chapters. Next is the big test: Read it all and see if the edits I’ve made work. Fingers crossed. If you read my post a few weeks about about Andrea Brown literary agent Mary Kole‘s query contest, you’ve probably been following her… Read more

First, good luck to all you NaNoWriMo participants starting your 50K novels today. I’m revising, so I’ll be participating in spirit, with some revision work done every day. But my best wishes go out to those of your who signed up. Good luck! Now on to the regularly scheduled blog post: Number three in my… Read more